


Susan Foreman And Donna Noble: Adventures in Space and Time

by arkylarn



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24038197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkylarn/pseuds/arkylarn
Summary: Donna Noble's life has been normal enough. Sure, there are things she can't remember about her past, but she has always tried not to think too hard about it. She has work and her granddad and her friends to worry about, after all. When a mysterious girl shows up one day and starts to take interest in her, Donna thinks it is just a case of a teenager being weird. Little does she realize the amazing journey she is about to embark on, nor how much she has really forgotten.
Relationships: Susan Foreman & Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor & Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor & Susan Foreman, The Doctor & Susan Foreman
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	Susan Foreman And Donna Noble: Adventures in Space and Time

“Excuse me.” The supervisor leaned over the computer screen, getting right in the girl’s face. “Why aren’t you working?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She did not sound like she meant it, but maybe that just came with her age. She had a young face, but her application said that she was eighteen. “I finished it all, so I was just waiting until someone gave me more.”

That was obviously not what the supervisor wanted to hear. With her face growing red, she rounded the desk to stand beside the girl. She looked down at her with contempt. “I know you’re new here, but that doesn’t give you the right to slack off.” She looked at her computer screen. “Did you log all of the calls I gave you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She furrowed her brows at this and leaned into the computer as if she could tell the truth from the blank screen. “I gave you that an hour ago,” she looked back at the girl, who did not seem to mind her anger, “You probably did it incorrectly.”

“No,” the girl said. She tapped her feet on the ground, causing the chair to oscillate back and forth, and smiled. “I sent it to Mark to look over, since I’m new, like you said. He said it looked good.”

The supervisor looked over at Mark, who was busily typing away on his computer, then back at the girl. She pushed away from her area and started to walk away. “I’ll get Anna to send you the list of removes to take off the email,” she proclaimed as she left.

“She already has!” the girl yelled at the woman’s back, “I finished a few minutes ago!”

The woman shook her head and did not respond.

The girl spun her chair again, this time in a full circle. The office was bustling, but she had enough room to roll back a few feet and stretch out her arms. It was not an office in the typical sense with cubicles, but rather it had short walls between people, so everyone had a space for their computer and a few little knick-knacks but they could also see what the people beside them were doing. Despite her age and lack of experience in this type of environment, the brunette girl had already made friends with many of the people in her row of computers. Deandra even invited her to her daughter’s baptism.

“Bosses, am I right?” It sounded a bit awkward, and the fact that the woman the girl was talking to had not realized she was there did not help. The girl had pushed herself back far enough so she was in the personal space of the ginger woman behind her, her outstretched arms rubbing against her shoulders. The woman turned to look at her as the girl spun to face her.

“What?” the lady asked, annoyance evident in her voice. Her eyes flicked over to the supervisor as she walked around, and then the ginger smiled. “Oh, yeah, _her_. Don’t even get me started.” She turned to face the girl more clearly. “She’s not even the boss, you know, just takes her job too seriously. I’m the fastest typist in this place and she still chews me out for one misspelled word.”

Shaking her head, the girl leaned forward. “I don’t think we’ve met, have we?” she asked, then, apparently deciding that they had not, she held out her hand. “I’m Susan, I’m new here.”

“Nice to meet you Susan,” the ginger woman nodded, “I’m Donna. I’m just a temp.” Susan shrugged at that, as if disagreeing with her statement, but Donna did not mind. She looked Susan over. “What are you, fifteen? Are you here on some kinda internship or something?”

Susan laughed. “No, I’m eighteen. Just decided that school wasn’t for me, and saw there was an opening here.”

“Yeah, that was weird,” Donna said, glancing over to the spot where Susan was supposed to be sitting, “I’ve been here about two weeks now, and I thought I got a pretty good read of the place. John didn’t really seem like the kind of guy to enter those radio raffles.”

“Ten thousand dollars and an all expenses paid trip to Hawai’i. It was probably too good to pass up.”

“Must be amazing getting to travel, though,” Donna shrugged, and turned away from Susan. She started tapping on her keyboard but did not appear to actually be doing anything.

Susan scooted her chair closer; perhaps uncomfortably so as Donna had to move away slightly. They were now basically side by side. “Have you ever gone travelling?” Susan asked.

Donna smiled and shook her head. “No, no. I mean, I’ve been to different places in Europe, but only the touristy parts. I would love to get out and just go, but… You know, work and family and things.” Her gaze wandered off for a moment before returning to Susan. “And what about you? Ever been anywhere cool?”

“Oh, yeah,” Susan nodded, “All over. I’m from a place far away from here, so even this is an adventure.”

“Ah,” Donna exhaled, looking Susan over again, “That explains the outfit.”

Susan did not respond for a moment, instead looking down at her shirt. “What? What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“Nothing,” Donna laughed, blushing from embarrassment, “It’s just so… _retro_. I mean, I think I have pictures of my mom with that sort of haircut.” She snickered and covered her mouth with her hand. “It looks good, just not what you would expect on a fif- eighteen year old girl.”

Susan smiled and laughed as well, much to Donna’s relief. She reached up and touched her own hair. “I’ve had it like this for years,” she said, twirling a finger in her bangs, “I think it’s timeless. Works anywhere, anywhen.”

Donna chuckled at that and shrugged. The girl was a bit weird, but that was all teenagers these days. She was probably part of one of those weird subculture groups that dressed like they were all still living in the sixties.

“It was nice meeting you, Susan,” Donna said, glancing over at the supervisor who was starting their way. She turned back to the computer. “I better get back to it, or else you-know-who is going to get all cranky.” She gestured over to the supervisor.

“Yes,” Susan nodded, “Voldemort.” She looked rather proud of herself for knowing that name. Donna just smiled politely as Susan moved away.

***

“How was work, sweetheart?”

Wilfred sat down at the dining room table opposite Donna. In his hands he held two steaming mugs of coffee, one of which he pushed over to his granddaughter. Donna took it and smiled, sipping it before sighing.

“It was fine,” she nodded, “There’s this new person working there who’s a little weird.”

“Oh!” Wilfred exclaimed, calming down when Donna shot him a baffled look. “What does he look like?”

“It was a _girl_ ,” Donna corrected, “Couldn’t’ve been more than sixteen, but she said she’s a little older. She really doesn’t mind getting up in your space.” She took another sip of her coffee. “What does it matter to you what she looks like?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Wilfred shrugged and he took a sip of his own. “I have a friend whose son got a job in one of those offices, thought it might be the same one.”

“What, are you mum now?” Donna asked, rolling her eyes, “Trying to set me up with some bloke?”

“Not just any bloke.” He shook his head, then leaned forward. “So, what’s so weird about her?”

Donna paused for a moment to think. “Well, besides her age, she dresses a bit weird. Looks like she’s straight out of the 1960s. And, I mean, she’s personable. A bit annoying at first, but I see why everyone seems to like her. She looks like a kid, yeah, but I think she knows more than she lets on.” Wilfred nodded along as Donna spoke. “Anyways, she was just real interested in me today. Rolled right over to my desk and started talking.”

Wilfred smiled and clapped his hands together. “Oh, that’s nice, though! Isn’t it, darling?” Donna did not appear to be on the same wavelength as him. “She probably just wants a friend. If she’s as young as you say, she’s probably feeling a bit awkward. It’s nice that- What? Who’s that?”

They both looked up at the sound of the doorbell, and Donna craned her neck to try to see through the windows next to the door. She could not see anything, so instead looked back at Wilfred. “Well…”

“Oh, no, no. It’s probably one of _your_ friends. Or your mum’s. I’m not dealing with that.”

Donna rolled her eyes and stood up, making sure to roughly push her chair back in so Wilfred knew how much she did not want to be the one answering the door. Flinging it open so that the person there would also know how much she did not want to be answering it, she leaned forward. “Yes?” she asked. Then she blinked and could not seem to find any words.

“Donna!” Susan exclaimed, waving her hands, “This is _your_ house?”

Donna slowly nodded. “Um, yeah.” She stepped out further, and looked both ways down the street as if expecting something to happen. “What are you doing here?”

Susan reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She handed it to Donna, who turned it over in her hands. The phone was old -- some sort of clunky flip phone that Donna swore was no longer being manufactured -- and Donna obviously did not know what she was supposed to do with it.

“I’m lost,” Susan finally started to explain, “I can’t find my house, since I just moved here, and I think my phone’s mad at me. She won’t pull up the Global Positioning System or anything.”

“ _She_?”

“Oh, sorry.” Susan looked almost worried. “ _He_.”

Donna nodded and decided not to pursue the matter any longer. She turned the phone over in her hands a few more times before handing it back to Susan. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to fix phones. You can try Howard a few doors down. I think his husband is in I.T. or something.”

Stuffing her phone back into the pocket of her leggings (Donna had never seen leggings with pockets before, but they seemed quite nice. The phone disappeared into it and did not poke out or anything), Susan shook her head. “No, I just need directions. Do you have a computer or anything?”

Donna hesitated but eventually nodded and stepped aside to let the girl in. Susan smiled and waved at Wilfred as she walked inside.

“And who’s this?” Wilfred asked, standing up. “Is this that girl you were talking about?”

“Yeah,” Donna said as she closed the door behind them, “Susan.”

Susan stepped over and shook Wilfred’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Susan,” he said, “I’m Donna’s granddad, Wilf. You’re new around here?”

Susan nodded. “Yup, just moved in.” She looked around the room. “I seem to have lost my way, though, and my phone’s not working.”

“Ah, well, that’s no problem,” Wilfred said. He started toward a backroom where they kept the desktop computer. Susan smiled and followed Wilfred cheerfully and they made some small talk along the way. Donna rolled her eyes, sighed, and trailed behind them, still a little caught off-guard by Susan’s sudden appearance.

“Where are you from, then?” Wilfred asked as they approached the computer. He flicked the mouse and began to find the search engine.

“Oh, um,” Susan mumbled, pausing just long enough for it to be suspicious, “Far away from here. It’s hard to pronounce in English.”

“What other language do you speak, then?”

“Galli…pagos. Galapagos.”

“Like, the islands?”

“Yeah,” Susan nodded, “That’s where I’m from.”

“Humph,” Wilfred nodded, eyeing Susan. He looked back at Donna and whispered, “You’re right; bit of a weird one.” He laughed and looked at Susan again. “Okay, so what did you say your address was?”

“1050 Felix Drive,” Susan answered immediately. Donna could not help but notice how rehearsed it sounded, but Wilfred did not seem to mind. He typed the address into the search engine and, when the map popped up, pointed at it. “Yes, that’s the one!”

Wilfred leaned closer to the computer screen and squinted his eyes. “Well, it says here that it is thirty minutes away by car. You walked here?” Susan nodded. “Well, Donna will give you a ride back, won’t you, sweetie?”

For a moment Donna looked flabbergasted at the suggestion, then breathed in. She did not have to say anything to make it known that she was irritated. “Sure,” she said, and managed a small, forced smile. Wilfred chuckled and stood up. They started back to the front room.

“Your mum’ll be back in a half hour with the car,” he told Donna before turning to Susan, “Make yourself comfortable while you wait. I can make you tea, if you want? Or coffee.”

“Oh, I’m alright. Thank you, though,” Susan said as she sat in a chair. Wilfred and Donna sat on a couch opposite her. “Caffeine makes me all hyper.”

“Ah,” Donna nodded, giving a sarcastic smile. “So, Susan, who are you living with?”

The girl shrugged. “Nobody.”

“No parents or guardians?”

“Not in a while, no.” She grabbed the phone out of her pocket and started messing with it again.

Donna and Wilfred both shot each other a worried look before Wilfred finally spoke up. “Well, how about a boyfriend?” He paused and looked Susan over. “Or a girlfriend. I mean, a young girl like you, I know the deal. Donna here was absolutely boy-crazy at your age.”

“Gramps, stop!” Donna exclaimed, but they both looked at Susan expectantly.

She shrugged again, but laughed awkwardly after a moment upon noticing how Wilfred and Donna were looking at her. “No. I used to live with my hu- this guy a long time ago. David.” She looked away for a moment and was quiet. Donna and Wilfred both looked concerned when they met each other's eyes, but they did not say anything. “Some stuff happened, so I’m alone now,” Susan finished, and she looked back up at them. She shifted in her seat. “So, um, what about you two?” She glanced around the room. “Just you two and your mum?”

Donna nodded. “Yup, been that way for a while.” She smiled over at her grandfather. “I don’t mind taking care of him in his old age.”

“Hey, now!” Wilfred laughed and waved his hands, “I do everything around the house for you and your mum.”

“I know, I know,” Donna laughed.

Susan thought the interaction was sweet, which helped to relieve some of the tension. “So, what do you like to do?” she asked, leaning forward in the chair.

Donna excitedly grabbed Wilfred’s arm. “Gramps here _loves_ astronomy. Spends all his free time looking through a telescope.” She looked over at Wilfred, obviously wanting him to start talking about it. That way she could just relax and wait until her mum got home with the car, then drive the girl back. Susan was not annoying her, per se, but she was not in the mood for this.

“Oh, uh, yes,” Wilfred nodded, “But I haven’t been able to use it lately. Something in it broke and I haven’t been able to get it repaired yet.”

“I’ll fix it!”

“What?” Donna asked, looking up from where she had been staring off into nothing, but Susan was already out of her chair.

Wilfred started after her excitedly, gesturing for Donna to come along. “It’s out that door, up the hill. I was trying it last night.” He quickly threw on his coat. “Donna, go grab the tools. They’re in the garage.”

“Oh, whatever,” she muttered, not as excited as either of the pair.

The set up on the hill was as cramped and messy as ever. A blanket was strewn on the ground next to the telescope, and a single chair was beside it. Wilfred smiled excitedly as they approached it, and he waved his hands. Susan was just as thrilled.

“Nice!” she said as she approached it, and she ran her hand along it. She stuck her eye on the eyepiece, but was unable to see anything. “Does this have exact planetary rotation measurements?” She paused, then pulled away. “No, I suppose not. Not yet, anyway.” Wilfred shook his head as Susan looked up at the sky. It was starting to get dark. “What planets can you normally see with this?” She gave it another look, paying special attention to its magnification. “Tomrooke?” She shook her head and looked at Wilfred. “No, that’s not here, is it..?”

“Uh…” Unsure of how to respond, Wilfred smiled and waved his arms when he saw Donna marching up the hill, toolbox in hand. “Up here, sweetheart!” Donna chuckled and started to move faster. Once at the top of the hill she dropped the toolbox beside the chair and sat down on the blanket. Wilfred pulled the folding chair over to sit beside her as Susan gently turned the telescope on its side. She sat cross-legged on the ground beside it and pulled the toolbox closer.

“So, Susan,” Donna started as she offered her grandfather some crisps from a bag she had brought along with the toolbox, “How did you learn to work with tools? Your parents?”

Susan started unscrewing something from a side panel of the tube. “School,” she answered, then quickly added, “Third year is practically mechanic school in the Galapagos.” She looked up at Donna. “And what about you? Did you go to university?”

Donna shook her head and ate a crisp. “Nah, didn’t really appeal to me. Didn’t know what I wanted to study… Still don’t.” Wilfred chuckled at that. “It’s not for everyone. You would know, I suppose. But, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you want to go to uni? I mean, you seem rather bright.”

There were now parts of the telescope scattered all over the ground around Susan. Wilfred watched her anxiously as she grabbed a specific part and held it close to her eyes. “I think this is the problem…” She started to mess with it and most of her focus was on it when she eventually replied. “Where I’m from, they took school really seriously. I didn’t have much choice in anything.” She shook the object in her hand and a small piece of glass fell out. She smiled, making it obvious that it had been the problem. She began to quickly reassemble the telescope. “I wanted to get out… travel… so I did.”

“And now you’re stuck working at Jasman and Sons Analytics,” Donna laughed, “Maybe not quite the adventure you wanted.”

Susan paused. She looked confused. “No,” she shook her head, “It’s fun. I get to meet so many new people and be a part of their lives, even if it’s not for very long.”

Wilfred nudged Donna. “Maybe you should look at it more like she does,” he said, but Donna just squinted her eyes.

“Every human is different and interesting and special, and I’m just glad I get to know them,” she concluded. Susan then stood the telescope back up, and rose herself. “Here, it should work now.” She pulled the telescope toward Wilfred who grabbed it excitedly and stuck his eye to the eyepiece.

“Yes, oh!” he exclaimed, adjusting a setting on the side, “This is perfect!” He grabbed Susan’s hand. “Thank you.”

Susan smiled and nodded, and sat down again beside Wilfred. It was completely dark now. He aimed the telescope and leaned in.

“Look, Donna,” he said, and Donna moved to put her eye against it, “That’s Mars right there.”

Donna smiled and, after a moment of looking, pulled away. “Can you believe that we’re gonna be there, soon?” she asked as she sat back, “It’ll be after our life times, I’m sure. Or at least yours.” She nudged her grandfather who waved his hands as if to shoo the idea away. “But we’ll get there, one day.”

“If you could go right now, would you?” Susan asked. She looked up at the sky and then over at Donna. “I mean if you could get in a spaceship or something and not have to worry about money or your family or anything, would you go?”

Donna nodded in agreement and started to say something before Wilfred suddenly grabbed the telescope and looked into it again. He smiled as he shifted it, but then his expression dropped.

“Now what’s _that_?”

Wilfred did not have much of a choice but to lean away as Donna moved in front of the telescope again. She stared for a moment without saying anything, then moved away. “I don’t see anything,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, exactly,” Wilfred nodded, “I think there’s something in the way…” He suddenly turned to look at Donna. Susan leaned forward when she saw that he looked nervous. “Oh, Donna, sweetheart. Would you mind going inside and fetching my thermos? It’s getting pretty chilly.”

Donna rolled her eyes and stood up. “Yeah, whatever, weirdo.”

Wilfred started to lean into his telescope but Susan instead stood up and pulled it toward her. She pressed her eye against it and moved it around until she found the spot that Wilfred had been looking at. “Oi!” he exclaimed, but Susan did not respond.

“You didn’t have to send her away, you know…” Susan mumbled as she turned up the magnification on the telescope.

“What? What do you know?” Wilfred huffed. He paused, then looked over at Susan. “Listen, I get you’re just a kid, but you can’t be going around commenting on things you’re not part of.”

“I’m sorry.” She looked away from the telescope again. She stared at Wilfred for a moment before looking up at the sky. It was hard to notice without the telescope, but there was some sort of shape off in the distance. “But you’re right. That’s not supposed to be there.” Before Wilfred could reply, Susan started waving. “Donna!”

“Mum’s been here for two hours!” Donna exclaimed once in hearing distance. She handed the thermos to Wilfred, then looked at Susan and held up the car keys. “Are you ready to go?”

Susan nodded and stood up.

“Do you have the instructions, Donna?” Wilfred asked, and Donna told him that she could pull up the G.P.S. on her phone.

“Thank you for having me,” Susan said and she shook Wilfred’s hand. Donna could not help but note how suspiciously he looked at the girl, especially as they had been getting along so well before. “It was really nice meeting you.”

***

“Susan?”

Most of the car ride so far had been spent in silence, except for Susan’s commentary on the scenery every few minutes. The fact that it was so ordinary seemed to be the most fascinating aspect to her.

“Yes?”

“What are you hiding?”

Donna tapped her fingers on the steering wheel but did not look over as she spoke, even when she heard Susan inhale sharply from surprise. It was too obvious that Susan was struggling for a response.

“What?” Susan asked. She sounded angry, but in an over-exaggerated way. “What do you mean? I’m not hiding anything.”

“I just find it a bit odd that a twenty year old girl immigrated here from the Galapagos alone, isn’t enrolled in school, and isn’t living with anybody. I mean, I get it, but you just showed up out of nowhere.”

“I’m an adult, aren’t I?” Susan asked, the inflection of her voice an obvious attempt at turning the tables. She was trying to act as if Donna was the weird one. “Twenty years old makes you an adult, which means it’s perfectly fine that I’m on my own.”

“Yes,” Donna agreed, nodding. Susan sat back right before Donna continued. “But you told me earlier that you were eighteen.”

Donna could not help but smirk at Susan’s startled expression. She did not reply for a minute as she tried to think of something to say, attempting to pass it off as if she was simply finding a more comfortable way to sit. She drew her leg up onto the seat then put it down again. She looked out the window.

“So maybe I lied about that,” Susan shrugged, “They don’t let, uh…” She glanced at the side-view mirror. “ _Fifteen_ year olds work full time here, do they?” She looked over at Donna when she noticed that she was pulling into some abandoned lot. The car stopped and Donna turned to face her.

“Why aren’t you in school?”

“I don’t want to be in school.”

“And why is your house some junkyard? There’s street view on G.P.S.es, you know”

Donna almost swore that she heard Susan mumble ‘again!?’ under her breath, but she did not react, instead looking at the girl expectantly. From the way Susan held herself it was obvious she was going to tell another lie, so Donna did not give her the chance.

“Is it a family problem? Did you run away from something or someone? Because I don’t believe you’re from… the Galapagos, or whatever. You sound British.”

“I’m not British.”

Donna shrugged. “Well, whatever. Because whatever it is, I can’t just let a kid be living alone. Morally, you know.” She looked at her phone with the G.P.S. on the dashboard and turned it off. When she looked back at Susan, it was with sympathy, not anger, even if Susan looked uncomfortable because of it. “So you can either come back with me and stay on the couch or something, or we can try to find some kinda shelter, but…”

Susan hesitated, then nodded. “Sure, I’ll stay with you.”

Donna smiled at that, and put the car in drive. “If you would stop being so mysterious,” she started, “I think we could be good friends.”

During the short ride toward Susan’s ‘house’ Donna had not put on any music for a reason. She wanted to make Susan uncomfortable -- wanted to put her on the spot -- but there was no reason for that now. After a minute of driving back home, she reached over and turned on the radio. When the first few notes of the song blasted through the car she made a disgusted face and went to change it, but Susan stopped her.

“What, you like this?” she asked incredulously, eyeing Susan, “I see why you got along with my granddad. He likes all these old songs.”

“Old?” Susan asked and she looked at the screen showing the name and year of the song. She muttered some numbers as she thought. “I don’t know if fifty-eight years is really old.”

Donna just chuckled and shook her head. Susan waited until the song was finished, then turned down the radio. She looked at Donna.

“So, Donna.” Donna did not like the questioning tone. “What are _you_ hiding?”

Donna’s face scrunched up in confusion and she shook her head. “No, no, no. That’s not how this works. Unlike you, I’m not hiding anything.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No,” Donna said with a tone of finality. She looked over at Susan for a moment. “What would I be hiding? I’m just a temp.”

“But that’s not what you want to be.”

Donna shrugged and nodded. She looked down the street for a moment. “You can ask me whatever you want, long as you’re not cheeky about it. And as long as I get to ask you questions back, and you don’t lie to me.”

Susan could not help a small smile. “Sounds good to me,” she answered, then immediately asked, “Why are you temping?”

“It’s a good job. I don’t mind it. Are you really from the Galapagos?”

“No.”

“Will you tell me where you’re from?”

“You wouldn’t have heard of it. You don’t like temping, so why aren’t you doing something else? Why aren’t you having adventures like you want?”

“I told you I don’t mind it. I know you’re just a kid, so you probably don’t understand money and all that, but I can’t just up and leave.”

“You could do something else. Or make your own adventures; you don’t have to go anywhere.”

“Why did you leave home?”

“I ran away. They wanted me to do something I didn’t want to do, so I left. I got called back later, and now it’s gone.”

“Why’s it gone?”

“There was a war.”

“And you fought in it? Some sorta child soldier?”

“What’s keeping you in Chiswick of all places?”

“It’s where my family’s at. I would never leave Gramps.”

Susan nodded. “I understand… But I think he would encourage you to pursue what you want. You don’t know what’s out there.”

“Why do you keep pushing the travel thing? Why do you want me to have an ‘adventure’ so badly?”

“I just don’t think you should say that you _can’t_ do something. You remind me of someone that I heard of before. Everyone I knew had heard of her. She was like you -- she thought that she was just ordinary. Forgettable -- but she went out and travelled anyway and she saved so many people. After that she had to stop being a wanderer for a while, but I don’t think that has to be the end of her story.”

Donna snorted. “How does that remind you of me?”

“I think you will realize later.”

Donna shook her head. “You’re so weird.” She smiled a little.

***

“Why are you coming in so late?”

Sylvia was sitting on the couch reading a book when Donna walked in. She barely glanced up, leaving Wilfred, who was sitting at the table sketching something on a piece of paper, to notice that Donna was not alone.

“Couldn’t get enough of us, huh?” he joked, then looked over to Donna for explanation.

“Susan’s whole building had to be evacuated. Possible carbon monoxide or whatever,” Donna shrugged, setting down the keys on a counter, “I told her she could stay with us tonight.”

Sylvia looked up now. She was obviously irritated. “And where is she going to sleep?”

“Oh, I’ll sleep anywhere!”

“I’m sure.”

Susan looked confused as Donna shot Sylvia a look. With an annoyed groan, Sylvia stood up and started toward her room.

“Don’t be loud.”

“We won’t be.”

When Sylvia slammed her door Donna rolled her eyes and went to go sit where her mother had been sitting. Susan instead went to go sit at the table with Wilfred.

“Well, I think you’ll find our place quite agreeable,” Wilfred smiled, “We have some blankets and pillows for the couch, and you can mess with the thermostat however you want. It doesn’t bother me.” He paused. “What are you doing?”

Susan had taken the paper that he had been scribbling on when they walked in. She held it up. On the paper Wilfred had drawn a vaguely hexagonal shape, with a few rectangles poking out. “This is the outline of it?” she asked, “It’s getting close enough to make out?”

Wilfred hesitated but eventually nodded without commentary.

Susan put the paper down and furrowed her brows. She reached over, grabbed a pen, and slowly began to sketch on top of Wilfred’s drawing. She picked up the pace and finished quickly, holding up the final product to the light. The drawing now had dimension from shading and additional details.

“That’s not good...” Susan mumbled before suddenly jumping up and starting for the backdoor.

“What’s she going on about?” Donna asked, approaching the table. She and Wilfred stared at each other for a moment before Wilfred shook his head. They both started out the door after Susan, who was already standing at the top of the hill. “Susan! What are you doing?”

Susan held the picture up above her. As Donna and Wilfred approached they could see the shape from before in the distance. The general shape was the same as the drawing that Wilfred had done, but they could not yet see all the details that Susan had added.

“What is that?” Donna asked slowly, in awe. It was too high up to see where it would land if it decided to.

Wilfred looked over at Susan and frowned. “Are you alright, sweetheart?” he asked, approaching her. Her face was pale and she was shaking. “Whatever it is, you don’t need to worry about it.” If Susan was paying attention, she would realize how obvious it was that he knew more than he was actually saying. “Someone’ll take care of it.”

“No, this wasn’t supposed to happen…” Susan mumbled, “I didn’t plan for this.”

Donna finally looked away from the sky and approached Susan. “I’m sure it’s some sort of weird cloud or government testing or something,” she laughed, “Let’s get inside. It’s freezing.” When Susan did not move, Donna wrapped her arms around her and started to pull her inside. After a moment of hesitation Susan finally gave in and walked back inside with them.

Susan sat down on the couch, still clutching the picture tightly. Donna went to a closet and pulled out some pillows and blankets, handing them over to Susan. “Here you go,” she said, “I think I’m going to go to bed soon. We’ve got work tomorrow, remember.”

The girl nodded and thanked Donna, and Wilfred waved her goodbye as she went to her room. For several minutes neither Susan or Wilfred talked to each other, Wilfred only watching Susan as she thought hard. He was not entirely sure what she was trying to figure out.

“So,” he said finally, “What do you know about what’s up there?”

Susan looked over. “It’s not good,” she said, looking at the drawing again, “I wasn’t expecting them.”

Wilfred tried not to look surprised. Susan sounded different without Donna in the room. “It’s aliens, then? I mean, it’s a ship.”

“Yeah, looks like a Frimian Formation.” She paused and looked over at Wilfred. “What do you know about aliens?”

“What do you?”

“I know just as much as anybody else.”

Wilfred shook his head. “No, no, don’t try that.”

“Fine,” Susan shrugged, “Maybe I know more than the average human.”

“Are you one of them, then?” Wilfred asked, pointing at her and then flicking his finger toward the ceiling. Susan followed it, but seemed confused.

“One of what?”

“The aliens.”

“You’re the alien.”

“Are you the evil kind?”

“Depends on who you ask.” She crumpled the paper and tossed it between her hands. “Why do you know so much? I’ve never heard of you before.”

“That’s none of your concern.” He stood up and walked over to the couch, sitting right next to Susan. They stared at each other momentarily before Wilfred suddenly snatched the paper ball away from her. He looked angry now, and Susan could not help but back away slightly. “What do you want with my Donna?”

Susan looked down the hall to where Donna had gone. She looked back at Wilfred. “You’re her grandfather?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then you know about her. And you know about the Doctor.”

Wilfred forced himself not to react to the name. He simply nodded. “I do.”

“Well, I think the Doctor was wrong. I think he was wrong to take away her memories. I think she could be doing more.”

And Wilfred looked like he wanted to agree. For several seconds he could not force himself to respond, but eventually he shook his head. “No, I trust the Doctor with my life. He did what he had to.”

“The Doctor isn’t always right, despite how he tries to convince people that he is.”

Wilfred stood up and marched back over to the table. He loudly pulled the chair away and sat down. “I don’t know you. I don’t trust you over him. How do you even know the Doctor? Could be one of his enemies.”

“I could be,” Susan shrugged, “But I’m not.” Susan stood up and walked to a window. She looked out it but could not see anything.

“So what do they want, then?” He squinted his eyes at Susan. “Are they here ‘cause of you?”

Susan shook her head. “No… Well, I don’t think so.” She looked down, lost in thought. “I don’t know why they would be.”

“I mean, I get you’re an alien or whatever, but you’re clearly a child.” His expression softened as he said that, as if he had not truly believed it before and was only now agreeing. “I don’t know what they would want with some teenager.”

She walked back over to the couch and slumped down heavily on it. Susan held her face in her hands. “Well, there’s not really anything we can do about it right now.” Wilfred shook his hand impatiently in an attempt to tell Susan that she should get to the point. “Frimian Formations are basically impenetrable from this distance. It might be a while before they’re close enough.”

Wilfred sighed. He stood up and walked over to Susan. “Well, you might as well sleep, then.” He pointed to the blankets that Donna had given Susan. “I expect you won’t come back here tomorrow.”

Susan nodded and Wilfred turned off the lights.

***

“Make her stop!”

Sylvia was yelling from her room in response to all the noise coming from the living room. But Donna and Wilfred were already there, standing over the couch and looking down at the girl.

“Just try to go back to sleep, sweetie!” Wilfred yelled back, but his attention quickly returned to Susan. All of the covers that she had buried herself under were flung across the room, and she had half fallen off the couch. She jerked and was mumbling something and every once in a while got very loud. Wilfred looked over at Donna, and, despite his earlier anger at the girl, he looked genuinely worried. “Well, what should we do? Should we wake her up?”

“No,” Donna responded quickly, shaking her head, “She told me a bit about herself earlier… Didn’t say much, but I know something bad happened. I’ve heard it dangerous to wake people up from those types of dreams.” She jumped and moved away as Susan suddenly swiped at the air. The Gallifreyan relaxed after that.

Wilfred shook his head. “I wouldn’t trust her, sweetheart,” he said, feeling less bad about it now that Susan had calmed down.

“She’s here all alone,” Donna replied. She was going to say more when there was a knock at the door. She looked over at Wilfred. “What time is it?”

“Four-o-six in the morning last time I checked.” Neither person said anything, but then the knock came again.

When neither Donna nor Wilfred went to answer the door, it began to shake. Suddenly it flew open, and five uniformed strangers spilled into the room. Before Donna could ask, the person who seemed to be in charge held up his identification card. “We’re with U.N.I.T.” he announced, looking Donna up and down. His attention turned to Susan. “We just need her.”

Wilfred and Donna turned their attention back to Susan. They were surprised to see her sitting cross-legged on the couch. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to actually fall asleep,” she apologized to Donna and Wilfred. It was a moment before she looked up at the U.N.I.T. officer, “What do you need me for?”

“That’s confidential,” he said, glancing at Donna again. “Just come with us,” he demanded, stepping toward Susan and reaching out to grab her arm. Susan stood up on the couch and sidestepped, but that did not matter as Donna was the one to stop him. She had grabbed his arm.

“Oi, I don’t think so!” she huffed and he was forced to turn and meet her eyes, “You don’t just come in here and try to take little girls!”

He looked at Susan almost sarcastically before pulling away from Donna. With a small flick of his hand, two agents pushed past Wilfred toward Susan. She tried to run to the other side of the couch but was easily caught.

“Hey! Let go!” she screamed, kicking her legs and flailing. The agents easily restrained her by holding her arms, pulling her towards the door. “No! Let go!”

“She said to let her go!” Donna shouted, stomping out after the men. They were having a hard time getting to the black vehicle they had parked outside because of Susan’s struggling.

The man sighed, walking out after Susan. “There’s no reason to cause a scene, Missus Campbell.”

“Foreman!” she shouted, “ _Miss_ Foreman.”

He just rolled his eyes, but, just as he did so, Susan managed to wrest out of her captives’ grasp. She ran along the side of the house and paused by some trees. She held her hand above her eyes and squinted, looking off into the distance. As everyone approached her, she turned to them and waved her arms.

“Fine. Fine! I’ll come.” She glanced over to where she had been looking, to let the U.N.I.T. agents know that she knew what they were there about. “But Donna has to come with me. As a guardian, or whatever.”

“Miss Foreman, you do not need a guardian.”

“Yes, I do.” She looked over at Donna with pleading eyes.

Donna hesitated, then nodded and stepped forward. She grabbed Susan’s hand and turned angrily to the agents. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t just come into _my_ house and take people! I don’t care what you think you need her for.”

The man rolled his eyes, sighed, and stepped aside. “Fine,” he said, and gestured to a car in the distance. An agent was standing outside it, holding the door open. “After you, Miss Foreman and Miss Noble.”

Donna smiled and squared her shoulders. She took charge and led Susan along to the car. “How do you even know my name?” she asked the agent as he walked alongside them, “I don’t know yours.”

“Agent Kibling.”

Donna snorted. “Sounds like kibble… or those little biscuits.” Susan slid into the car first, followed by Donna. The outside windows had been tinted, and inside it was rather dark as well. The agent in the front seat did not turn to greet them. After the door they had got in through was shut, Donna turned to ask Susan something, but she was interrupted by knocking on that same door. She quickly opened it, only to see Wilfred frantically waving his hands.

“Move over. Move over. Come on!” He started to get in and Susan was squished against the opposite door. “I’m coming with ya!”

And then they were all uncomfortably sat in a row before the door was closed behind Wilfred, and they sat in silence until the car started up and the agent brought it down the road. Donna turned to Susan.

“So…” she glanced around the van, then at the agent, “Who are they?”

“U.N.I.T.” Susan shrugged, then looked up as she thought, “United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. They work for the government, basically.”

Donna nodded. “And what do they want with a fifteen year old?”

Susan looked out the window and Donna leaned forward to try to see out of it as well. Even though it was tinted, the outside was still visible enough to make out a large shape in the sky far off in the distance. The ship was much closer to the ground than yesterday, but it became obvious once the car rounded a corner and got out of the row of houses that it was above a field. Even at this distance, Susan could see that there were no homes in immediate danger. But that was not the direction the U.N.I.T. driver was taking them. He was driving them further into the city.

“They think I can help them,” she answered finally. She leaned forward in an attempt at getting herself as close to the driver as possible. “But where’s the Doctor? Don’t you normally go after him? Or… her. I’m not really sure.”

The driver did not look back. “The Doctor is not Earthside currently. You are.”

“Yeah, but if he was, you probably wouldn’t kidnap him.” She paused and hummed for a moment as she thought. “Well, you probably would, but at least you would pay him for it. Why am I not on U.N.I.T.’s payroll?”

“U.N.I.T. is prepared to offer you compensation for your aide.”

Susan smiled, then shook her head. “No, I’m okay. I just wanted an offer.”

It was obvious that both Donna and Wilfred were confused as they attempted to listen along. As Susan sat back in her seat, Donna turned to her. “Susan, what are you talking about? Who’s the Doctor?”

Wilfred shook his head behind Donna, his eyes wide and pleading. Susan was going to say something, but she met his eyes and shrunk back slightly. Wilfred had not been a part of her original plan; Susan could not help but feel bad. He just wanted to protect his granddaughter. She unbuckled and pulled her legs up onto the seat, sitting with her back against the door. The agent who was driving looked at her through the rearview mirror, but decided that asking her to put her seatbelt back on was not an argument he wanted to have right now.

“The Doctor and I are from the same place.”

“Are you family?”

Susan nodded. “Yes. Adoptive, anyway. He was my grandfather.”

“The Doctor is your grandfather?” Wilfred asked quietly. He looked down slowly as he thought.

Susan nodded again and turned her attention back to Donna. “Sometimes humans need our help, because-”

“Humans?” Donna asked, cutting her off. “Why do you say it like you’re some sort of… Some sort of _alien_?” And suddenly she closed her eyes, groaned in pain, and doubled over. Wilfred grabbed his granddaughter by her shoulders worriedly.

“Look! Look! This is why she can’t remember!” he shouted at Susan, but she did not react to his anger. Instead she reached under Donna and pulled her back up to a sitting position despite Donna’s shouts in pained protest. Susan put her hands on Donna’s temples and leaned forward so their foreheads were touching. “What are you doing to her?”

Closing her eyes, Susan held Donna tight as she leaned in harder. After a moment Donna gasped and her eyes flew open. She pulled away and Susan fell back against the door.

“What was that?” Donna shouted, “What did you just do?”

It was a moment before Susan opened her own eyes. She winced, obviously hurt, but smiled. “It’s fine, now. I didn’t do anything.” Donna did not believe her, but Susan did not care. She glanced over at Wilfred, who stared at her with his mouth hung open. “It’s fine,” she said again, quieter.

Donna squinted her eyes, looked to the front of the car, then back to Susan. “Just tell us what’s going on, Susan!”

“Would you believe me if I told you there were aliens?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not going to tell you what’s going on.”

Wilfred reached behind Donna and grabbed Susan’s arm tightly. Donna looked at him in surprise, but his gaze was set hard on Susan. “I want you gone after all this, you hear?” Susan clenched her jaw, but stayed silent. He shook her arm slightly and went to say more, but Donna grabbed his hand away. His anger faded almost immediately as she looked at him, and he instead seemed embarrassed.

“Look,” Donna said. She spoke quietly; the sort of unsure tone that people speak in when a lot is going on around them. “We’re… _here_. Wherever here is.”

She was right. The car had been slowing down as they spoke, and now it screeched to a halt. They were in the middle of the city, flanked on either side by the back of buildings, but the lot seemed abandoned. Susan lowered the window and stood up in her seat, leaning out of it to the discomfort of Donna.

The building directly in front of them was rather unassuming. It looked like any other building around, but the windows were slightly darker. Susan scanned the lot for things that only she knew to look for.

“This isn’t your headquarters,” she told Agent Kibling as he approached the car. She looked down at him, then all around. “We’re near London, so why didn’t you just bring us to the main office?”

Agent Kibling sighed and shrugged. “This satellite branch deals with things that will be more useful to you.” He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. “Would you please get out of the car, Miss Foreman?”

“Oh!” Susan slid back into the car, then opened the door and jumped out. Donna followed behind her and turned to help her grandfather out. “Donna,” she said, turning to the ginger, “This isn’t what U.N.I.T. normally looks like. They don’t really like me at headquarters, but at least the building is cool.” She smiled. “You’ll get to see it eventually. This is an adventure, anyway. I’ve never been here before.” She jumped and turned back to Agent Kibling. Now she was the impatient one. “So, are you going to show us inside?”

There were no visible entrances on this side of the building, yet Susan watched it expectantly. An agent clicked something on an unremarkable pay phone, and, at exactly the spot Susan had been looking, the building shimmered slightly and a door appeared.

“Perception filter,” Susan said as they started toward the door, “The door’s always there.”

Donna nodded but did not say anything. The agents went inside first, followed by Susan, Donna, and Wilfred. Neither Susan nor the agents acted surprised once they entered the building, but Wilfred and Donna were unable to hide their amazement.

“Not what you would expect from out there,” Wilfred commented, looking around.

While the outside of the building was grimy and old, the inside was not. The walls were sleek and it was bright inside, despite it being cloudy and early enough in the morning for it to still be somewhat dark outside. Agents in uniforms and suits walked around. One lady in a suit holding a clipboard walked over to the group and handed the clipboard to Susan. “Missus Campbell, if you will come with us.”

“Miss Foreman,” Agent Kibling corrected before breaking away from the group.

The new agent nodded and turned on her heels, quickly striding down the hall as Donna, Wilfred, and Susan followed behind her. “The Frimian Formation has lowered itself enough that we can send an infiltration team inside to figure out their motives and force them to leave,” she explained as she led them to an elevator. She pressed the button that requested it and turned to the group as they waited. She looked at Donna. “Miss Noble, I did not expect to ever be meeting you again. Sorry things didn’t work out with Shaun. He seemed rather nice.”

Before the agent could say anything to make the situation worse or Donna could express her confusion (and probable anger at the mention of her divorce), Susan laughed and waved her hands. “They keep tabs on everybody,” she told Donna, “You know… government.”

“Guess you were right about the phones, Gramps,” Donna said as she suspiciously eyed the agent who just shook her head and looked back at the elevator.

“They’re always listening!” Wilfred declared, and as the elevator arrived they all piled in.

Susan started flipping through the papers on the clipboard. She frowned and looked at the agent. “I don’t know any of these people,” she said and she handed it back to her, “I’m not going in with them. I work better alone, anyway.”

“It is believed that the Frimians are hostile. We cannot recommend that you attempt to deal with this by yourself, Miss Foreman.”

“Just brief me and it should be fine,” she said, but she looked scared as she started to consider the reality of the situation. She had not had a reason to read through all of the papers; she knew about the Frimians already.

“Alone?” Donna asked, “What are you doing alone?”

The elevator dinged as it reached the floor. They stepped out into a hallway. It was less populated than downstairs, and the agent began to lead them down it. The rooms were titled differently, but each one had a word followed by ‘project.’

“That’s a ship. The thing in the sky,” Susan explained. She started to look nervous as she thought. “There are people -- well, _aliens_ , but people is a general term -- up there, and someone needs to go and ask them why they’re here and get them to leave. It isn’t safe if they’re here. They’re not supposed to be.”

Donna considered this. “And why does it have to be you?”

“It just has to be.” They paused outside a room near the end of the hall with the name ‘Redding Project,’ and as the agent started to unlock it, Susan turned to Wilfred and Donna. She was genuinely concerned as she looked between the two. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you along; that was selfish. I’m going to get someone to bring you back home.”

“Yeah, _no_. I don’t think so,” Donna said immediately, startling Susan, “I don’t believe this whole alien nonsense, but we’re here now. I’m not letting you do anything alone.” Wilfred looked at his granddaughter, and he could not help being a little proud. He glanced at Susan and saw the effect Donna’s words had on her. She smiled slightly and did not argue.

The door swung open. The room that they stepped into was darker than the hallway, and in the middle was a large table with colorful controls. At the far end of the room two poles stood a few feet apart from each other. Susan rounded the table, running her hand along it before looking up at the agent. “This is the teleport, then?”

The agent nodded.

“Frimian Formations are only accessible by a specific kind of teleport than works short-range,” Susan explained. Her focus was on Wilfred, who was the one she had been talking to about it last night, when the ship was too high in the sky to access. “All you do is…” She leaned forward and flicked a couple of switches. A bright buzzing line suddenly appeared behind her, connecting the two poles. It expanded into a large red rectangle. She clapped her hands together as she turned to face it. “This has direct access right into the heart of the ship.”

There was a moment where no one spoke, then Donna nodded. “All right then.” She rounded the table and stood beside Susan. She looked down at the shorter woman. “I guess we should just get on with it.”

“U.N.I.T. will be watching from here, and we will send in an extraction team if it appears that things are going awry,” the agent nodded, “But this is time-sensitive.”

Susan looked up at Donna and grabbed her arm. “You don’t have to do this,” she said, “I’m really alright going alone.”

Donna shook her head and laughed. “No, you’re not.” Susan smiled, and Donna grabbed her hand. She stepped toward the buzzing portal, and, after a moment’s hesitation, pressed her hand to it. When that disappeared, she leaned into it and suddenly both her and Susan were gone.

Wilfred watched with his mouth open, then he clenched his jaw and nodded. “Alright, I’m next!” he said as he marched around the table, but before he could reach it the portal suddenly died. He turned to the agent who had begun frantically messing with the controls. “What did you do? I’m going with them!”

“I didn’t do anything!” she exclaimed, then she grabbed a small radio out of her pocket. “Code Silver. I repeat, Code Silver,” she said into it as she tried a few more buttons, glancing over every few seconds to where the teleport should have been, “The Frimians have disrupted our connection.”

***

Both Susan and Donna were on the verge of passing out when they appeared in the ship. Susan, with her Gallifreyan biology and the fact that she had grown used to teleportation sickness because of her constant use of a vortex manipulator, dealt with the queasiness slightly better, but Donna doubled over and was close to vomiting. It took several minutes for the two to finally stand up and feel right enough to look around.

“I’m not saying I believe aliens are real,” Donna said as she spun around. She blinked, shook her head, and focused on Susan. “But tell me about them. The Frisians, or whatever.”

“Frimians,” Susan corrected. She took a moment to look around before she answered. The room they were in was about the size of a small house, with tubes running along the walls and steam being released from different openings. Susan felt sweat begin to cling to her shirt. It was obviously the underbelly of the ship. “Their ships are called Frimian Formations because it is not just one ship, but several small ones all stuck together around a center power source. A control room. The Frimians don’t have a permanent home, so they travel around in these ship groups. They usually don’t dock on planets.”

“So why are they here then?”

Susan shook her head. “I don’t know. If this was an invasion they would have docked above a large city, not a field.” She hummed and spun around again, but that did not help. She furrowed her brows. “They might just be searching for something. But whatever the reason it’s probably not good. They don’t normally dock on planets, but when they do it can be devastating. Their little ships carry a lot of power, and that only grows when they combine. If they are hostile -- or decide to be hostile -- it will be a problem.”

Donna nodded. “Alright,” she said quietly. Susan looked at her worriedly, but she just swallowed and pushed her shoulders back. “Well, where are they, then? These aliens?” she asked.

Susan smiled. “Well, I think we’re in the underbelly of the main ship. Below the source that is powering everything.” She looked up. “Once the ships are attached together it is like they are no longer individual ships, and most of the activity is in the middle section around the control room. That’s where all the power and instruments and things should be. Whoever is in charge should be there.” Donna pointed to an open doorway where a stairway could just barely be seen, and Susan nodded but did not move. “Donna,” she said with a noticeable shift in tone, “If you start to feel sick, or like your head hurts, or anything, tell me immediately. Please.”

Donna tilted her head. “Why would that happen?”

“Just… if it does,” Susan said, and Donna rolled her eyes and agreed. They started for the staircase.

There were a million questions running through Donna’s mind. She was not mad at Susan, and, for some reason, she was not totally resistant to the idea that they were on an alien ship. It felt right, even, as they walked through the room, but Donna did not tell her that. There were so many questions, but she settled on asking one at a time.

“Why did they keep calling you Missus Campbell? And we’re in an actual alien ship, so don’t lie to me.”

Susan was quiet in her hesitation, but Donna was right. It would be wrong to keep anything from her. Or at least keep anything from her that would not hurt her. “I was married. His name was David Campbell.”

“You’re not fifteen then?”

“No, I’m not a child. But it is hard to make people believe me.”

Donna did not speak for a moment as she thought. Even if Susan was not from _here_ , she could not believe that she was much older than maybe twenty. She just looked so young.

“What happened to David?”

“He died.”

Donna nodded. Her next question was asked with a softer tone. “Was it in the war?”

“No.” Donna noticed Susan clench her fists. “David and my children were from Earth. In the future.” Donna almost commented on the idea of time travel, but caught herself. She let Susan continue without disrupting her. “When they died I went back home to my own planet.”

“So you’re an alien?” Susan nodded. “From Gallifrey?”

Donna kept walking for a moment, but she was forced to turn around when she noticed that Susan had stopped. The girl was looking at her with a puzzled expression. “What?” Donna asked.

“I never told you where I’m from,” Susan said slowly, “I never told you the name.”

Donna’s automatic reaction was to get defensive. She crossed her arms. “Don’t be acting like _I’m_ the weird one here, sunshine. You said you’re from the Galapagos, maybe I just sounded it out.” She glanced down and shifted on her feet. It was lame reasoning. “I don’t know…” she said finally, meeting Susan’s eyes again, “Sometimes I just know stuff.”

Susan sighed and nodded. “That’s alright,” she said, “You’ll figure it out.” Donna did not like the feeling that Susan knew more than she was saying, but she followed her as they started up the stairs.

They walked along slowly, pressing their backs against the wall as there was no handrail. It was a short climb to the top, but they both paused to get a hold of themselves before they could no longer turn back.

“Are they going to look like aliens? Like real, proper aliens?” Donna asked. She looked from Susan to the door. Despite the confidence that Donna was attempting to give off, Susan could tell that she was nervous. “You know, green, big eyes, all that?”

Susan shook her head. “Not all aliens look like that, you know. I don’t, anyway.” Then, with a sly smile, she added, “Not unless I take off the mask…”

Donna rolled her eyes and threw up her hands, and Susan laughed. Then they both turned to the door together. After a moment’s hesitation, Susan breathed in and pushed against it.

They were met with rather bright light. Susan blinked a few times and Donna covered her eyes. It was much different than the maintenance room below. The new room resembled a kitchen, almost, with tiles lining the floors and walls, and fluorescent lights hanging overhead. Computers lined all the walls, but the aliens were no longer sat at them as they all quickly stood up to meet Susan and Donna.

“Halt!” one of the aliens screeched, and Susan quickly put up her hands. Donna was still getting adjusted to the new room, but, after some grumbling, she put hers up as well.

“You said they wouldn’t look alien,” she complained. She was facing the Frimians, but her eyes were pressed to the corners as she looked at Susan. Susan stared straight ahead, yet she still shivered at Donna’s anger. “You said ‘Oh, not all aliens look like that.’ Explain this!”

“I told you they wouldn’t be green.”

“Oh, _right_.”

“Stop talking,” the alien who appeared to the leader demanded. Donna was right, they did look like proper aliens, but not the green kind. They were almost humanoid, but their lack of hair and narrow, black eyes ruined the facade. They had gill-like stripes on their necks that shimmered blue, and they all wore tight white-and-gray jumpsuits. Once they turned, Susan and Donna would see their spiky tails. “State business.”

“ _Well_ …” Susan started, and Donna did not like her condescending tone considering the circumstances, “You have your ship hovering above our home. We were wondering what you were doing.”

The Frimian in charge turned to face the others. There were about five grouped behind him as several had lost interest immediately and gone back to their computers. They said nothing and just stared, but Susan closed her eyes tightly and grit her teeth.

“What’s wrong?” Donna asked worriedly. She glanced over, but quickly looked back ahead, worried about the Frimian seeing her.

“Nothing… They’re telepathic.”

Before Susan could explain further, the Frimian turned back. “We talk to representative.”

“Of?”

“Peace. Give titles.”

Susan nodded and pointed at herself. “Susan Foreman.” She jerked her finger over to Donna. “Donna Noble. We’re the representatives.”

The Frimian considered this. Susan shut her eyes again as the Frimians talked. Then they signalled for them to follow. “We will process.”

The other Frimians scattered as Susan and Donna followed the leader. They walked through the room and many Frimians turned to look at them as they went past. The room was large, but there were smaller halls off two walls. They started down the one on the right, and there was a difficult change in elevation as they climbed higher into the ship.

“Their name is Joseph,” Susan whispered to Donna.

“Who?” Donna asked, caught more off-guard by that than anything else at the moment, “Who’s named Joseph?”

“The Frimian.”

“You’re telling me that we just met an alien and their name is _Joseph_?”

Susan nodded. “My name is Susan.”

“Yeah, but you’re not really…” Donna waved her hand. “You’re not really alien.”

Susan shrugged and the group emerged on a higher level floor. Donna remembered what Susan had said about the room with the power source being the most frequented. She supposed that the room that they had just come from was in charge of power as that room had been very slick and nice, and this room was not. It was not ugly, per se, but everything felt crammed together. Doorways jutted off in different directions, and a large glass case ran along the far wall.

A Frimian emerged from one of the doorways. They looked almost like the others, but their jumpsuit was entirely gray, and their gills were more green than blue. They looked the visitors over, then turned to Joseph.

“What are the humans doing here?” Susan asked, and Donna turned to face her. The girl was holding her head with her eyes shut. She looked sick as she bent over. Still, she continued to recount the telepathic conversation. “They claim to be representatives. Susan Foreman and Donna Noble. Donna is my name. I know. You would think they would have some alien name. It’s disappointing. Yeah. I brought them here for testing. We need to assure their identities before negotiations. We did not want visitors which is why we cut the portal line as soon as we discovered it, but we were too late to stop them. Maybe they can help. Let us hope.” Susan took in a deep breath as the telepathic communications halted and she looked like she might fall over as she staggered. But, after a moment, she steadied herself and was able to regain her composure. “I have not used telepathy in a while,” she whispered sheepishly.

“Get in machine,” Joseph demanded. He pointed to the glass case. Donna the Frimian stepped over to some controls beside the case that had not been visible before.

Susan and Donna hesitated but at Joseph’s impatient urging, they stepped toward the glass. There was a door on the side that opened at the press of a button. Susan started to walk in, but Donna grabbed her arm.

“Wait, you’re not going to just step in there ‘cause they told you to, are you?” she asked, looking at Susan incredulously. Even though Susan felt that she knew what she was doing, she could not help but feel silly under Donna’s stare. “What if this is some sort of gas chamber or something? They’re aliens. They probably don’t like humans!” She paused. “Or whatever you are. Gallifrenese.”

“Gallifreyan,” Susan corrected, but Donna was right. She looked around the room, then caught Donna the Frimian’s eyes. “What is this for?”

“Biometric scan,” they said. They did not sound as rough as the leader. “We know a lot from scan.”

Susan hummed as she thought, but eventually she shook her head. “I think we have to trust them,” she said as she turned to Donna, “It doesn’t sound like they want to hurt us… Unless you have a better idea.”

Donna did try to think of a better idea. She hummed and looked around, but she quickly reached the same conclusion as Susan. “Fine,” she said, “But if they kill me, I am going to tear you a new one.”

Susan nodded and tried to hide her amused smile. She stepped into the case and Donna followed. She jumped when the door slammed shut behind her.

“Arms above head,” Joseph instructed, and Donna and Susan did as they were told. Suddenly a pink gas was sprayed on the two, and Donna’s eyes went wide as she looked at Susan. But, before Donna could fully panic at the idea that they were, in fact, being poisoned, the gas stopped. “Do not move.”

Susan and Donna were completely still for several moments, but Joseph did not tell them to put their arms down. Keeping her arms up in the air, Donna took the instruction not to move a little lighter after several seconds of silence.

“Why do the aliens speak English?” she asked.

Susan thought that Donna looked funny talking seriously with her arms raised above her, but she was not in a better position. Anyway, as soon as the question was asked, she was no longer thinking about humor. She furrowed her brows. “They are?” Then she blinked and nodded. “Yeah, I suppose they are for you. I’m sorry I didn’t… I didn’t think.” Donna was obviously not following along as Susan started to smile and nod. “That’s good. That’s really good.”

“What?” Donna asked, “What do you mean?”

“It just means there’s… it’s still in there.” She looked away from Donna. Donna was getting very tired of Susan saying mysterious stuff without explaining, especially when it concerned her, and Susan knew that. But she could not explain. Not yet, anyway. She had a plan and it pained her that she could not explain it all to Donna because she wanted her to trust her, but she could not. There would be a time and a place; Donna would discover the answers on her own.

“Which is nonhuman?” Joseph interrupted them, much to Susan’s relief. As they put their arms down, Susan raised her hand. “Species?”

“Gallifreyan.”

Donna was surprised to see any semblance of emotion of the Frimian’s face. They looked almost surprised.

“Do not lie,” they demanded, suddenly sounding angry, “Gallifrey is gone.”

“Yeah, I would know. I was there,” Susan shrugged. There was an obvious attempt at sounding nonchalant, but Donna could see her shaking. She wanted to comfort her, but she did not know how. Plus, she could not help but be intrigued. “I made it out of the Time War when no one else did.”

Heavy silence filled the room. Joseph and Susan stared at each other. “The Frimians lost a lot in Time War, too,” he stated slowly, “This is only ship left.”

Susan paled and Donna was almost worried that Susan was going to hurl. Susan looked slowly around the room with wide eyes before looking back at the Frimians. Donna did not like that Susan looked sad and scared; she somehow preferred it when the girl was being annoying. “The Frimian Fleet was expansive.”

“Yes,” Donna the Frimian whispered, looking down at the controls, “Just as Gallifrey once was. We lost all; this is all left. We add no more ships; there are no more to find.”

Susan swallowed and nodded. Suddenly the door to the case swung open and Donna stepped out of it. Susan followed her. The room’s atmosphere was suffocating.

“Machine was unable to obtain accurate age readings,” Donna the Frimian stated, and the moment passed. “Combined age surpass maximum limit.”

“What’s the maximum limit?” Donna asked.

“Twenty-five hundred years.”

Susan looked over at Donna. “It’s probably you.”

Donna did not appreciate Susan’s joke. The mention of the ‘Time War’ before brought up more than a few questions, but the revelation of Susan’s age -- or at least the fact that she was thousands of years old -- hit Donna hard. She bit her lip and looked timidly at the Gallifreyan. Susan did not notice. She did not seem to care how big of disclosure that was to a human. To Donna.

“Why is nonhuman caring about Earth?” Joseph asked.

Susan looked up as she thought, and when she answered she spoke softly. “Earth isn’t just for humans,” she explained. She had a small smile. “Animals and bugs and birds all live here, and I have lived here before. It’s like a second home to me, so of course I care about it.”

They considered this and Joseph quickly turned back to Donna and Susan. Joseph nodded. “We will discuss; you will wait.” Before either visitor could respond, the Frimian signaled them over to a room that jutted off to the left of the case they had just stepped out of. Susan and Donna walked into it slowly, and Joseph followed behind. They did not walk in with them, and instead closed the door behind them.

As they were meant to simply be waiting in the room, the small size should not have bothered the visitors, but that did not stop Donna from voicing her discomfort. “You would think they could afford to treat us better,” Donna said, stepping toward the large table that took up most of the space. There were oddly-shaped chairs scattered all around it. Susan climbed onto the table and walked to the back of the room. She settled carefully on a chair far across the table from Donna, sitting cross-legged on it. “If they want us to help, anyway.”

“Oh… yeah.” Susan tapped on the table as she thought about that, but a small smile grew on her face. She had forgotten that they said that; that they said they needed help. She was not sure that she would have remembered it had Donna not been there. It was nice having someone with her as she normally did not. “And they kept talking about peace representatives. Not Earth representatives, but peace.”

“You said they were normally hostile.”

“Yes,” Susan nodded, and her voice faltered, “ _Normally_. But I didn’t know that they were involved in the Time War… They lost almost everyone as well. It’s hard to be on the offense when you’re barely surviving.”

Donna sat down in one of the chairs. She tapped her feet and both women sat in silence for a few moments. Donna began to smile. “Aliens!” she suddenly exclaimed, causing Susan to look up in surprise, “Real-life aliens! We’re in a spaceship!”

Donna’s excitement pulled Susan out of her rumination. The room they were in looked like it could fit in some abandoned office; it was not exactly befitting a high-tech spaceship. That was why Susan, upon Donna’s statement, smiled and looked around. “Do you want to see something cool?” she asked and she did not have to wait for Donna’s answer. The girl slipped under the table, disappearing for a moment as some tapping noises could be heard underneath. Suddenly the room lit up, and it took a moment for Donna to realize it was because the wall on the far right had disappeared. Donna stood up and scooted along the table to get a closer look.

The city that they had just come from was visible in the distance. The gray buildings and roads mingled beautifully with the natural landscape, such as the field they were hovering over. Everything looked so small; the cars in the distance were like little ants.

Donna leaned back against the table and looked at Susan, who was now sitting beside her on the table with her legs dangling over. “What did you do?”

“Nothing, really,” Susan said. She hopped down and walked toward the open wall. Donna almost reached out to grab her when Susan suddenly brought her hand forward and a loud bang could be heard. She sat back down. “The wall’s still there, but the materials that Frimian Formations are built with can be made transparent.”

Donna nodded. She did not have to say anything to express her awe. “And to think, stupid Jerry is down there working right now. And we’re in a spaceship! With aliens!” Donna laughed. She paused. “Do you do this all the time?” she asked slowly. She did not look at Susan as she spoke, instead watching the bustling city that had come to life with the afternoon. She thought she could spot her house. “I mean, deal with aliens and things.”

“Yes.” Susan, on the other hand, looked right at Donna. “I deal with aliens and different worlds and different times.”

“It must be exciting.”

“It is.” Susan glanced down and kicked her legs. “You could always come along… if you want.”

She should not have offered that; not yet, anyway. She could tell it was a mistake immediately and she quickly reached out to catch Donna. The pain was unbearable and Donna could not help but yell as she doubled over. Her head felt like it was trying to pound out of her skull and she could not hear anything, including Susan’s pleas to stop fighting her. It took Susan several seconds longer than she would have liked to get a good grip on Donna. Donna shook and tried to get her to let go, but Susan tightly grabbed her and pressed their foreheads together.

It hurt. Susan could feel it all. She was taking away Donna’s pain because she could handle it better -- as a Time Lord she could stop the human’s mind from exploding -- but that did not mean it did not hurt. She could see it all. All the repressed memories that were trying to make their way to the surface of Donna’s mind. She felt wrong for seeing them; they were not her memories to have. The Doctor and Donna in the TARDIS. Susan knew the general story -- so many different species and races spoke of the Most Important Woman in All of Creation -- and it was how Susan knew to come looking for her, but she did not know the details. She did not want to know the details. Those were for Donna to have. And she would have them, when she remembered.

That was Susan’s plan. She knew about the Doctor erasing Donna’s memories and she knew why he did it, but it was wrong. Maybe it was selfish of Susan -- maybe it was because she was upset at the Doctor and thus felt she had to prove him wrong -- but it did not matter. They were Donna’s to have. And she knew it would be painful as they reawakened, but she could help with that. There were uses for Gallifreyan mind powers.

She was not sure if it would work. There was a lot Susan was unsure of. Would the Time Lord aspect of Donna’s mind reawaken with the memories? How long will it take for Donna to safely access her memories? Susan could not say for sure. But whatever happened, she knew that she wanted to help.

Both women fell onto the table unconscious. Susan lay there for only a few seconds before starting awake. She jumped up and shook Donna, who blinked slowly. The ginger palmed her forehead. “Why does… Why does that keep happening?”

Susan let out a sigh of relief, then helped Donna sit up fully. “Do you remember anything?” Susan had many new memories. She shook her head in an attempt to get rid of them.

“No. Should I?”

Susan frowned. “No… No, I was just wondering.”

Luckily, Donna did not have much time to consider this before the door swung open. Donna the Frimian popped their head in. “Are you alright? We hear noises.”

Donna nodded. “Yeah, fine, mate. Right as rain.” The Frimian did not seem to catch her sarcasm. “So, are we all properly processed now or what?”

“Yes. Please come with us.”

***

“We are stuck.”

They were back in the control room. Donna and Susan stood in the middle of the room facing Joseph and Donna the Frimian. The other Frimians had formed a circle around them, listening intently as they spoke.

“Ship needs repair,” Joseph continued, “We were unable to obtain missing piece and ended up here.”

“What piece?”

“Temporal disruptor.”

“Oh…” Susan flexed her fingers and looked up as she thought. Eventually she nodded. “That is a problem.”

Donna leaned toward Susan. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

“Temporal disruptors aren’t manufactured on Earth,” Susan explained, “In fact, I don’t think they will ever be manufactured here. When humans develop the need for them, they outsource it… The closest planet to here where they could find one for their ship is probably Priolka.”

“Well, how far is that?”

“A little more than five light years.”

“That is our problem,” Joseph said. “We had little information about Earth; we were not wanting to come toward the planet, but had no choice. We are glad to find the humans not hostile.”

“ _Well_ …” Donna started.

There was a moment where the group all silently stared at each other, Susan and Donna at Joseph and Donna the Frimian, and all the Frimians at Susan and Donna. Then Susan shyly began to smile, and it quickly grew more confident. “Okay,” she declared, “We will help you!”

After a few minutes of surprising gratitude — Donna mimicked the gesture that the Frimians performed. Susan did not have to tell her what it meant — Joseph dispersed the crowd of onlookers so they were left alone with the two visitors and Donna the Frimian. For more privacy they led them to one of the several rooms that seemed to jut out randomly all throughout the ship. It was bigger than the last waiting room, at least, and Donna sat down without complaint.

“We will aid when we can, but we have tried everything,” Donna the Frimian explained. They looked over at Joseph before continuing. “We do not know how to obtain the part. We have no contact with manufacturer.”

Susan bobbed her head along as she listened, then, when Donna the Frimian finished their explanation, she nodded her head as if agreeing with something they had said. “Alright,” she said, her tone sarcastically exasperated, “Donna and I -- Donna the human, I mean, sorry -- we’ll build you one.”

“We will?” Donna asked, and when Susan hummed a quick ‘mhm,’ she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, suppose we will then. I mean, can’t be that hard. Don’t need to go to school to be an alien spaceship mechanic.”

“Actually, most ship mechanics are highly trained; you know, with unions and everything. There will be a really good school for it on your moon in about three hundred years.” Donna could not tell if Susan was messing with her, so she chose not to address the statement. Susan smiled at Joseph and tilted her head. “If you can get that portal back on, that’d be wonderful. We are going to need a few parts from down there.”

***

Susan’s hands were up immediately; it took a moment for Donna to process all of the guns pointed at her, but, when she realized what was happening, she threw her hands up as well. “Glad to know you were so worried about us,” Donna jeered as the U.N.I.T. soldiers began to lower their guns.

“Oh! Donna, sweetheart, I’m so glad you’re alright!” Wilfred exclaimed, waving his hands. He pushed through the soldiers and hugged his granddaughter tightly. Susan, Wilfred, and Donna were ushered away from the portal by some soldiers.

“You were right, gramps!” Donna exclaimed with a wide smile, “There really are aliens. That was a real alien ship!” She paused, then just excitedly squealed, “Aliens!”

Wilfred nodded with a playfully arrogant smile. “What have I always said?” he asked, and Donna just laughed and rolled her eyes. Then he held her shoulders. “But how do you feel, honey? Are you alright?”

Donna frowned and furrowed her brows. She did not appreciate the question. “Why do you keep acting so weird? Asking that, I mean.” She sighed. It had been a weird day, and he was her grandfather. He cared about her. “Well, I got another of those weird headaches, like in the car,” she revealed, and Wilfred’s eyes widened, “But… I don’t know; Susan did something to help.” Then she leaned in and whispered. “She really isn’t human.”

He shook his head, and Donna thought that he looked sad. But he quickly swallowed and held his shoulders back. “Well, as long as you are okay,” he nodded. Then he spoke louder, so both Donna and Susan, who had only just stopped talking to a rather important-looking U.N.I.T. agent, could hear. “What happened? Why did they let you back? We thought they were trying to kidnap you or something.”

“They need help,” Susan explained, “A part of their ship is broken, which is why they had to stop here. We are going to help make that part for them.”

“What? You and Donna?” Wilfred asked, and Susan nodded. “But..!” He did not know what to say. Luckily, before he could flounder and embarrass himself, Donna interjected.

This time she held her grandfather’s shoulder. She was beaming. “It’s alright, gramps. It’s not their fault that they’re stuck here… We have to help them. Anyway, it’s just one part.” She looked away as a U.N.I.T. agent started talking, but he continued to look at her. He thought she looked different.

“Have you considered, Miss Foreman, that they are lying about their ship’s status?” It was the same agent that had initially shown Donna and Susan to the teleport. From how she carried herself it was obvious that she was very high up the chain of command. She did not wear a name tag, and Susan had the feeling that she would give a fake name if asked. “They did not send any forewarning about the fact that they were going to dock here.”

Susan nodded. “I’ve considered it,” she said, and the agent looked at her expectantly. Susan smiled and shrugged. “And I decided that I don’t think they’re a threat.”

“You’re not someone who can make that call.”

Susan looked at Donna. “Donna, did they seem hostile to you?”

Donna considered this, trying to suppress a chuckle at the agent’s annoyance. She shook her head.

“See? Donna agrees,” Susan said, and the agent could not hide her irritation at the younger-looking woman’s smugness. “We are going to need some parts.” When it became obvious that the agent was going to argue with her, Susan stepped toward Donna. “We can probably find everything around the city. We could split up, or-”

“No,” Donna replied, “We’ll go together.” Then she turned to Wilfred. “You can come… If you want.”

Wilfred hesitated, but steeled himself. He looked at his granddaughter with pride. “That’s alright, sweetheart. I’d just slow you down. You go with Susan.” He glanced at Susan and spoke quietly, “And you keep her safe.” He wanted to sound threatening, but he spoke too soft for that to work. Susan seemed to understand anyway.

“We’re just grabbing stuff,” Donna laughed, rolling her eyes at Wilfred. Then Susan started out of the room and she followed. Donna noticed that the U.N.I.T. soldiers looked upset as they left, but Susan looked straight ahead. As they stepped out into the unpopulated hallway, Donna commented on the situation. “What’s up with them? We’re helping.”

“They’re not going to let us use the portal again,” Susan explained quietly. She spoke a little louder once they were inside the elevator, “They’ve got themselves convinced that the Frimians are hostile.”

Donna scrunched her brow. “How can they think that?” she asked.

“They were right that the Frimians didn’t send any warning beforehand… And they took the fact that they cut the portal line as a threat,” Susan answered, attempting to rationalize it herself. Then she turned to Donna. “They aren’t going to want us to help anymore.”

“Then why are they letting us go out to get stuff to repair the ship?”

“Probably didn’t want us meddling.” Then, as the elevator dinged open, Susan smiled. “That’s fine, though. Once we have everything we’ll just get into the ship ourselves.”

“What? How? Don’t you need their teleport for that? They’re not going to let us use it.”

“We need a teleport; it doesn’t have to be theirs.”

***

The pile of rather random-seeming objects tipped threateningly in Susan’s arms, but she would not let Donna help her with it. Instead Donna held the list that Susan had written up, and she marked off each item as they obtained it. At first the objects had been easy to find, but as they neared the bottom of the list it became much more difficult.

“What is a, um…” Donna squinted at the word. “I can’t read this.” She held up the paper so Susan could see it as they walked.

“Oh, it’s a… genefer...il…” Donna snorted as Susan’s sentence trailed off. “Don’t worry, it’s not far.”

The city was packed. Men and women pushed past Susan and Donna, some with obvious objectives, others window shopping at different stores as they tried to figure out how to spend the afternoon. It struck Donna that she was supposed to be at work, but she shook the thought away. This was more important.

“How come nobody seems concerned about all this stuff you’re carrying?” Donna asked. She grabbed the toaster that nearly fell onto her head from the top of the pile and held it in her arms. “It looks like we’re building a bomb or something. It’s suspicious.”

Susan shrugged. “Humans never seem to really notice. Or care, at least.” Now that Donna was holding the toaster, Susan was able to tilt her head and see in front of her better. “The woman over there is walking a baby pig, not a dog, and no one has said anything to her about it.”

Donna blinked. Susan was right: it was a pig.

“How are we going to find a teleport, then?” Donna asked. They were only two items off from the end of the list, and none of what they had gathered so far really stuck out to her as being useful for teleportation. Then again, she did not understand how Susan expected to build part of a ship using, among other things, a granola bar.

“I’ve already got that covered,” Susan smiled and Donna rolled her eyes.

“You’re not very forward, are you?” Then she shrugged. “Or too forward. Two extremes.”

They turned into an alleyway. It was very different from the main street, mostly in the fact that it was just Susan and Donna walking there. Donna scrunched up her face in disgust as they walked past a dumpster, and she just looked at Susan suspiciously as they approached a grimed-over door. Susan kicked it as her hands were too full to knock. “It’s me: Susan!” she called out.

There was a pause, and then a high-pitched voice replied from inside. “Susan who?”

Susan sighed and Donna thought that the fact that Susan had to think about her answer was odd. “I don’t know,” Susan said, “Foreman?”

“No!” the voice replied.

“English?”

“No!”

Chesterton?” She stuck out her tongue. “No, that wouldn’t be it.” Then her face lit up. “Oh! Wright! Susan Wright!”

The door swung open. Donna’s eyes widened at the short, green alien that stepped out.

“Susan!” the alien squealed excitedly, and it lunged itself at Susan’s legs. Susan nearly dropped all of the objects she was holding as it hugged her. Then it looked up. “If you’re going to give us a fake name, at least make it one you remember.”

“I have a list,” Susan laughed and she and Donna followed the alien inside, “I always get to the right one eventually.”

Donna was speechless as they stepped through the door. The room that they walked into was more like a hallway, with low, dim lights and a counter along the wall. Off to the side there was a small kitchen, and Donna thought she saw other rooms further down the hall. There was a floral carpet on the ground in the kitchen and art hung on the walls; it was rather cozy, actually.

And there were aliens. Short, round, green aliens with antennae and stumpy little claw hands. Some of the aliens were shorter than others and Donna thought them to be children. The aliens were everywhere -- some of the shorter ones sat in a circle on the rug in the kitchen area, one sat on the counter, and several sat further back in the hallway on couches and chairs that they had managed to fit in.

“Real, _proper_ aliens,” Donna said slowly. Nobody heard her, yet she excitedly repeated herself. “Real aliens!”

“Aunt Susan!” One of the tinier aliens that had been sitting in the circle stood up and ran to Susan with her arms outstretched. Susan had put her load down on the counter and thus easily lifted the alien up. She smiled and booped her nose. “I missed you!” The girl hugged her.

“You’re, uh, related?” Donna asked and she hoped that she did not sound like she was judging Susan. “I mean, that’s great! I just expect-”

“No, no,” Susan laughed, shaking her head, “Not really. I helped Til’va-”

“Saved me,” Til’va corrected. She was the one who had greeted them at the door.

“ _Helped_ her, so she made me an honorary member of the family.” Susan smirked as she added, “Which technically means that, if the Hodgoos are ever allowed out of exile, I’m twenty-first in line for the Uvokian throne.” She shot a look down the hallway. “I don’t know how I come before Y’lanean’s entire branch of the family.”

Til’va shook her head. “They’re weird,” she whispered, “We all agreed we’d let the Filans rule before letting them.” Susan laughed at that and Donna smiled politely despite not understanding it.

Susan put the young girl down and she ran back to play with her friends. “I’m sorry I haven’t visited in a while,” she apologized to Til’va, “Things have been a little crazy.”

“I understand,” Til’va nodded.

“This is Donna,” Susan said, and Donna smiled.

“Nice to meet you,” she said and she realized that she was still holding the toaster. She had forgotten to put it down in all of the excitement of seeing little green creatures running around. “If you don’t mind me asking,” she started, and she paused. She spoke awkwardly as she feared being rude. “What kind of, erm… Where are you from?”

Til’va smiled. She could sense Donna’s worry. “Me and my family are from Thalattin,” she explained, “We are the Hodgoo family.”

“Ah,” Donna nodded, “Not Mars, then. That would have been too good to be true.”

“I wish we were just here to visit,” Susan started and she looked at all the random items she had set down, “But I’ve got to ask you a favor. We just need a couple more items, and I know you have the tools to be able to build it.”

Til’va nodded. “Of course. We will get you set up with everything.” She called over to the children and they all took items from the pile and started to bring it down the hallway, some grumbling and complaining that Til’va thought she could make them do whatever they wanted just because they were children. The last child took the toaster from Donna. “Is this about that Frimian Formation over the valley?” Susan nodded and Til’va laughed. “Should have known you were involved somehow. Now, what did you need?”

***

Susan and Donna were both wearing goggles, and Donna held the toolbox tightly. Til’va had shown them down the hall to a door, and through the door had been stairs that led down into a basement of sorts. That was where Susan was working on the temporal disruptor, all of the parts laid around her as she concentrated on combining a lightbulb and stripped fairy lights. Donna watched intently.

“Here.” Susan handed an object to Donna, who set down the toolbox and held it gently in her hands. She was not entirely sure what it was -- it was one of the weird items that they had obtained from Til’va -- but it was cylindrical and had buttons that were lighting up. “It needs to be reconfigured if it’s going to fit in here.” Susan gestured to the partially-built device before her. Donna did not think it looked like anything besides random items stuck together in a vaguely cube shape, and she did not understand how Susan expected to use it to help the Frimians. “Could you invert it? That way it will take _in_ fuel instead of expelling it.”

Donna held it up and twirled it in her hands. She shook her head. “I don’t know how.”

“Oh!” Susan set down what she was working on and scooted to Donna. She gently grabbed the device. “You just unscrew the top part…” Susan indicated where she meant. “Then peel everything back and reattach them at the edges.” She handed it back to Donna. “As long as you don’t connect the green parts together it will be fine.”

Hesitating, Donna looked at the device suspiciously. Susan seemed confident leaving it with her as the girl went back to working on the other bits of the device, but Donna did not yet move to undo the object. “What happens if I mess up?”

“It’ll melt,” Susan shrugged. She was wrapping the lightbulb-fairy light contraption around the other pieces. “But it will be okay; that won’t happen.”

“I don’t know,” Donna said. She placed it on the ground. “I don’t really build things. You should probably just do it.”

Susan looked up. “There’s not enough time. U.N.I.T. is eventually going to make a move against the Frimians, so we have to get this to them before anything happens.” Donna did not seem entirely convinced, so Susan smiled. “I promise you can do it. That’s the last thing that needs to be done. We will stick it in here-” Susan gestured at her amalgamation of objects. “And we’ll deliver it to them.”

Donna wanted to argue but she was not given the chance when Susan dropped what she was doing as she remembered something. With a sigh, Donna grabbed the device back off the ground and started looking through the toolbox for something to unscrew the top with.

“Yiwia!” Susan called loudly, repeating herself a few times. After a minute the door at the top of the stairs loudly opened, casting light into the basement. Donna focused on what she was doing, but looked up to see the alien emerge from the stairs. It was the same kid that had leaped into Susan’s arms upstairs. Susan crouched down to her level now. “Yiwia, could you do me a favor?” The girl nodded. “I left my vortex manipulator here.” Susan handed the kid a piece of paper with an address on it. “I was wondering if you could go grab it for me.”

“Sure!” The girl smiled and Donna looked up once again at the glowing. Her eyes locked on the alien as her green skin shimmered blue and she became slightly taller. Donna blinked and suddenly the girl looked like a human child with dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes. “I’ll be right back!”

Donna turned to Susan as Yiwia ran out of the room. She could not find the words for a moment. “What?” she finally managed to ask.

“Oh, they disguise themselves as humans when they leave the house.” Susan had started busying herself with the contraption again. “You might not notice a pig on a lead, but little green aliens are hard to look over.”

Donna nodded as if she accepted that. Returning to the task Susan had given her, she could not stop herself from asking her next question. “So are a lot of humans secretly aliens?”

Susan laughed and shook her head. “No, no. It’s rare, actually. Most species don’t have as good an ability to physically adapt as the Thalattians.”

They worked in silence for several minutes and Donna, to her own surprise, inverted the item rather easily. As she reattached the parts that she had unscrewed, Susan munched on the granola bar that they had brought along. Eventually Susan smiled, patted the machine, and stepped away. Donna held up what she had been working on and Susan took it. There were still visible buttons that lit up, but they were a different color than before.

“See? I knew you could do it,” Susan smiled, and Donna could not help but smile back. She handed the newly-configured device to the brunette. There was an obvious spot for it on the device that Susan had made.

The temporal disruptor looked a lot more put together than Donna had assumed that it would end up. It was a giant gray square with wires sticking out at different edges and the different pieces that had been used to build it were obvious up close, but far away it looked almost continuous. The part that Donna built slipped right in and, after sticking it in, Susan unscrewed the end. She poured some soda into it and then screwed the cap back in. “It will react with the fuel they put in,” she explained.

Light from an open door suddenly entered the room and there were excited, fast footsteps down the stairs. Yiwia, back in her alien form, raced to Susan, holding up a clunky bracelet. Susan took it gratefully.

“Should I tell mom you’re about to leave?” Yiwia asked, looking at the temporal disruptor, then back at Susan. When Susan nodded, the little alien ran back up the stairs.

“What’s that?” Donna asked, indicating the vortex manipulator. It was obvious from the band that it was meant to be worn on the wrist, but it looked uncomfortable. The part that would hold a clock or a piece of jewelry was instead a giant rectangle full of wires and metal. There was a dial pad tightly bound to it.

Susan smiled, waving it around as she slipped it on her right arm. “This is a vortex manipulator. We can use it to teleport back into the ship.”

Before Donna could get Susan to explain, the stairs creaked again and Yiwia appeared once more, this time accompanied by Til’va. Yiwia hugged Susan’s legs and Susan patted her head, then she ran back up the stairs and closed the door behind her. Til’va inspected the temporal disruptor for a moment, then turned to face Donna and Susan.

“Good luck,” she smiled.

“Thank you,” Susan replied. “I promise I’ll come visit again soon. I’m sorry it was so short this time.”

Til’va shook her head. “It was just nice to see you.” Then she looked over at Donna. “And you, as well, Donna. It was nice to meet you.” Then she paused and added happily, “I’m glad Susan finally has a friend with her.”

Susan blushed but quickly shrugged away her embarrassment and leaned down to hug Til’va. It was several seconds before either actually pulled away from each other, but eventually Til’va nodded and headed back up the stairs. After taking off their goggles, Susan spun to face Donna and she held out her hand.

“Take a deep breath…You don’t want to get sick again,” Susan said as Donna took her hand. She pressed a few buttons on the keypad with her free hand, then grabbed a handle on the temporal disruptor. Donna went to ask a question, and it was with her mouth half open that the vortex manipulator let out a loud click and the ground beneath their feet suddenly gave way.

***

“You too?” Susan asked. Susan and Donna were surrounded by the Frimians, a couple of whom pointed laser guns at them. They quickly lowered them upon recognizing who they were, though it was hard to see Donna. The ginger had fallen down immediately upon entering the ship, and she was curled up as she fought her nausea. Susan looked down and, when Donna finally uncurled, she offered her hand. “It takes a while to get used to.”

Donna stood up shakily, but quickly composed herself as most of the Frimians walked away. She noticed the temporal disruptor on the ground at Susan’s feet which Joseph quickly approached. He inspected it before looking to Donna and Susan. “This will work?” he asked. He skeptically spun a propeller on the box that Susan had taken off a toy helicopter.

Susan nodded. “You just connect the fuel line through here and it should be good to go.” She smiled over at Donna as Joseph gathered some Frimians to lift and carry the temporal disruptor away. “As soon as we’re sure it works we can go,” Susan said.

“And where are they going to go, then?” Donna asked. She noticed that most of the Frimians who were not helping Joseph were busily typing away on monitors and keypads. They were much more active than when Susan and Donna had first come on board.

Susan shrugged. “Wherever they can,” she said, “Frimian Formations are meant to be nomadic. It was weird that they even docked in the first place.”

“That’s not much of a life, is it?” Donna frowned, and Susan seemed surprised by the statement. “I just mean, floating around space. What do they even do?” She paused and glanced around. “Now that they’re the only ones left… They aren’t expecting to find others.”

Susan swallowed then slowly nodded. She struggled to think of a response which was why she eagerly turned and focused her attention on the sudden commotion at the end of the room. Several Frimians had gathered around one monitor and Susan closed her eyes. The telepathy did not look as painful as before.

“What’s going on?” Donna asked as Susan opened her eyes.

“Something’s happening outside,” Susan explained. She suddenly ran to the nearest Frimian, said something to them, then commandeered their seat. Susan pressed a few buttons and suddenly the wall disappeared as it had in the waiting room. Everyone’s attention turned to the city and the road that led to the field that the Frimian Formation was hovering over. Black vans could be seen driving up it in the distance.

“What’s that?”

“U.N.I.T.”

Donna rolled her eyes and nodded. “Oh, yeah, of course it is. Just when we’ve almost got everything working.” She tried to see the vans’ details, but they were too far away. “I’m guessing they don’t want to help.”

Susan shook her head. “They probably think the Formation has been here too long.” She finally looked away. “Maybe they can threaten it into leaving.”

“Threaten?” Donna asked, looking down at her, “How?”

Susan hesitated, but Donna’s look informed her that she should not avoid the question. “Guns… Uh, explosives.” She looked toward the road once more. “They see the Frimians as a threat. I doubt there’s much contact between them.”

Donna nodded as she considered that. She tried not to look nervous. “Well, at least they have everything they need. They can leave before U.N.I.T. gets here.”

Susan agreed, though she looked just as worried as Donna. They stared down at the road for a while longer before Susan suddenly turned toward the direction that the Frimians had hauled away the temporal disruptor. “Let’s go make sure they’re putting it in right.”

Nobody stopped the visitors as they walked down the hallway that the temporal disruptor had been carried into. Unlike the hallway they had followed to the room where they met Donna the Frimian, this one went down deeper into the ship. Susan closed her eyes as they walked, and she made a sudden turn as if she knew where to go. They emerged in a room that looked a lot like the room U.N.I.T. had originally transported them into -- there were pipes running everywhere with steam obscured Susan and Donna’s view. It was more crowded than the other room, however, with different mechanisms and cylindrical containers taking up most of the space. Susan and Donna awkwardly made their way toward the group of Frimians working at the back of the room.

“It is not working.” Donna the Frimian, rather than Joseph, was the one to address them. There was grease all over them, and they held tools in their hand that Donna had never seen before. Their impatience was obvious as they turned back to the temporal disruptor and all of the Frimians who were focusing their efforts into attaching various things to it. “It will not accept the fuel.”

Susan squinted her eyes. “What?” she asked and she shuffled past Donna and uncomfortably squeezed in between Joseph and another Frimian. On one knee, she started inspecting the device. She grabbed a tube that was hanging from the ceiling and tried to attach it. They hooked together for a moment before the tube lazily fell off. “Why is it being rejected?” She sat and thought for a moment, and slowly it started to dawn on her. “Oh, it’s not- But there’s not enough time.” She looked up at Donna. “I need to fix this before U.N.I.T. gets here.”

“Well, how long will it take?”

“Too long. I need you to distract them.”

“Me?” Donna was startled by the suggestion, but Susan only reinforced it with her nodding. “How do you expect me to stop them?”

Susan shrugged, quickly returning her attention to the temporal disruptor. She was already working on it. “I know you will figure it out.” She unstrapped the vortex manipulator from her wrist and handed it to Donna, then explained how to use it. “U.N.I.T. is going to try to get right under the ship. They’ll probably be setting something up under it… You just need to distract them long enough for me to fix this. You’ll know when I’ve got it.” She did not allow herself to look worried. Donna would take it as her being anxious about whether or not they will be able to accomplish this, though that would not be what the Gallifreyan was actually worried about. Leaving her alone down there, knowing about aliens... it could go horribly wrong and Susan would not be there to help her. But she had to trust her; there was not much of a choice.

Donna wanted to argue -- she did argue -- but both her and Susan knew there was no time. She had to fight against herself to do it, but eventually she pressed what she needed to on the vortex manipulator and she was no longer with Susan.

***

 _This is insane_ , Donna thought after slowly blinking in the light. She was happy to find herself not as nauseous as before, though she still felt queasy and it took her several moments to take everything in. The ship looked much more intimidating from underneath -- inside, she had not realized how large it really was. It blocked the sun and made the field she was standing in darker and cooler than the surrounding area. She shivered and pulled her sweater tighter around herself.

What was she supposed to do? Now that she was actually down here, waiting for U.N.I.T. to arrive with its weapons, the question really hit her. She was just one small person about to face some secretive, angry government program meant to deal with aliens. For all she knew, they could have one of those pens that made people forget everything that happened, Men in Black style.

She tried to control the trembling of her hands and started to feel somewhat lightheaded. For a moment her chest grew tight at the panicked idea that she was having one of those weird attacks again, but she quickly realized that it was her nerves. Just as she looked up at the ship just in case Susan sent her signal, dust turned up in the distance and suddenly Donna was surrounded by large black vans and trucks. Uniformed men and women hopped out of the vehicles, some approaching her, but most busying themselves with unloading cargo. The suited lady from before broke through the crowd and approached her. What little attempt she had made at hiding her irritation before was abandoned now.

“Miss Noble, I will ask you to move,” she said in a tone that certainly did not sound like a question, her lips pursed.

Luckily, Donna got her trembling under control, her irritation at the agent’s rudeness overpowering her nerves. Squaring her shoulders, she shook her head and went to start saying, “no can do, missy!” but before she could get the words out, the agent gave a signal and suddenly Donna was being grabbed and dragged away. Her resistance did not do much to deter the soldiers, who abandoned her once they pulled her away from directly under the ship. She was left standing in between two vans as large pieces of technology were pushed into the middle of the circle that the vans had made.

“Stop!” she said, though as soon as she said it she knew that her voice would not be heard over all the commotion. “Hey, just- just wait!” she shouted a little bit louder, and she started towards where most of the weapons were being set up, but she was soon pushed back by a soldier. She only got close enough to see what they were doing -- not to stop it.

Directly under the ship, where she had been before, the agents were setting up a circle of six small tanks, their guns pointed up at the ship. In the middle of the circle was an even larger cannon-looking thing that, through large cables, connected to some sort of pop-up power station. It obviously took a lot of energy, and Donna knew that it was what U.N.I.T. was banking on to destroy the ship.

“They’re not doing anything wrong!” Donna yelled again, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the words. She was directing it at the woman from before, but she did not get so much as a shrug. However, a different agent approached her. He might have been one of the men from the house who forced everyone into the van, she didn’t remember. Donna shrunk a bit as he approached, intimidated by his stature, though she began to relax when he lowered his sunglasses in a disarming manner. “You’ve got to stop this,” she demanded again.

“Miss Noble, while we appreciate your help in the matter, you do not truly know the threat that these invaders pose. We have tried communicating, but they have refused.”

“They communicated with us, though !” she protested. In the background, the sound of buzzing began, indicating the charging of something. “They told us they’re not hostile. They just want to get out of here.”

“And what then? Let everyone else know that Earth will let anyone in? Or, having scouted us, come back later in an actual invasion?”

“They’re the last of their kind and they don’t trust anyone else -- who are they going to tell? And if they actually invaded, they know they would not make it… they can see that with what you’re doing now!”

A sigh. The agent shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we have a planet to protect.”

Donna let out an irritated huff; he was no help. She looked past him to see that there was even more activity going on in the middle now. People were beginning to back away from the circle of weapons, which meant that she had even less time than she had supposed. She looked up again… Nothing! No sign for her to hit the button on the vortex manipulator again, grab Susan, and go. How much time did the weird little teenage alien girl need to fix the temporal disruptor? Wasn’t building and fixing things her forte?

Breathing in, Donna tried very hard not to think too much about her actions as she performed them. Slipping past the agent, she bolted toward the circle, dodging soldiers along the way. One managed to grab the back of her shirt and nearly knock her over, but she pulled away and the next thing she knew she was climbing up the barrel of the cannon smack in the middle of everything -- the one weapon that she knew U.N.I.T. to be counting on to fully destroy the ship. Surprising herself with what she was able to accomplish, she held on tight, her head right over where the energy they were planning to fire at the ship would come out.

A few soldiers grabbed at her legs, but she kicked them away. She heard the click of guns aimed at her, but chose not to look at them. Anyway, the fact that she was positioned right on top of a cannon was far more pressing. The sound of the charging she heard before was very loud there.

“Please don’t fire this. Please don’t fire this,” she pleaded quietly, her eyes screwed shut. “Please do _not_ fire this cannon!”

“Donna Noble, get down from there,” someone shouted at her, “or we will force you down!”

“Yeah?” Finally, she opened her eyes and tried not to look overwhelmed at all the guns pointed at her. She also tried not to think about what an awkward position she was in. It was beginning to get uncomfortable as she continued to hold herself up, metal pressing against her. “And how are you going to do that?”

As it turned out, very easily. When the soldiers grabbed at her again, she was unable to kick them off. Arms around her waist and legs pulled against her, and as much as she tried to cling to the cannon, she was forced to let go. She was quickly thrown onto the ground, the scraping of rocks on her arms only adding to the pain of having several highly-trained soldiers hold her down. It was hard to see anything apart from the uniforms of the men and women, but, as she was lifted up to be dragged far away from the area, she got a glimpse of flashing lights on the ship that had not been there before.

That was the sign! It had to be.

It was difficult, but Donna managed to wrest one arm free from the soldiers’ grips and she lifted it awkwardly over her head. She could not see over the people holding her nor could she turn her head much, but she felt around until she located the vortex manipulator strapped onto her other arm. She could only hope that she was pressing the right buttons as she blindly fiddled with the device.

***

“Donna…” Susan shook Donna softly. “Can you hear me? Donna?”

Even though she could hear Susan’s voice, Donna did not move for several seconds. She was sprawled out on the floor with her face pressed against it, and everything ached. But the Gallifreyan was persistent, pushing her and saying her name several times. She did not sound very worried, however, but rather like someone who was annoyed that they could not wake the other.

“Donna, it’s time to get up. Come on.”

“Umpf,” Donna groaned as she slowly pressed her hands against the floor and lifted herself up. Everything was blurry, and she held her head once she was sitting. “What happened?”

“You teleported into the ship right on time. One more second and we would have moved, and the coordinates I gave you would have just been air.” Donna shuddered at the thought of falling from the height where the ship had been hovering. “Well, you were already sick from the teleportation, and the ship suddenly took off as soon as you got there. The ship goes really fast — fast enough to get between galaxies in a matter of days — and you have to brace yourself for it.” She offered a hand and Donna took it. She blinked the blurriness away, though her head still hurt a bit. “You passed out.”

That made sense. Donna certainly felt rough.

They were not in the room that Susan had been fixing the temporal disruptor in. She must have dragged her as best she could, which seems to not have been very far for Donna could still hear the hissing and grunting of the ship’s machinery. The new room was small and dark, but light filtered in through the doorway, probably from the control room further off.

“How long was I out?”

“About an hour,” Susan said, blushing out of embarrassment, “I would have tried to wake you sooner, but they needed my help.”

Donna just laughed and slowly stood up. “So where are we now?”

That seemed to be something that Susan had been waiting for her to ask. She bounced up from where she had been crouching while waking up Donna and ran to the doorway. Feeling around outside the door for a moment, Donna could tell that she was searching for one of those buttons or switches that would make the wall transparent.

What she was not expecting was for all of the walls to disappear. The three walls that did not have the doorway attached were gone, speckled lights replacing metal. Donna’s immediate reaction was to panic, but she quickly realized there was no reason to. She could not say anything as she stared out into their surroundings with awe.

“The walls are still there,” Susan explained once again, though Donna barely heard her, “You can get closer.” Still she did not move, so the alien approached her. She gently held her arm and pulled her toward the invisible wall. A smile could not be helped as she silently watched the ginger who looked out of the ship with wide eyes.

“Susan, I- I don’t…”

“It’s your own solar system. We passed by Saturn and if we stay on the right path we might even see Neptune.”

“What about the Earth?” Donna turned to Susan, who soon looked confused. “What about all the people down there?”

“U.N.I.T. should have cleared out by now,” Susan replied, though it was said as more of a question. She did not know what sort of reply Donna was expecting. “They’re probably covering the whole thing up as we speak.”

“And what about my granddad? He doesn’t know we’re up here. He might think we’re dead!”

“He trusts you. He wants you to be happy.”

“You can’t just run away off into space!” Donna protested, and she turned away to instead look at the one wall that was still there. “Maybe you don’t understand that, space lady, but that’s not something you can just do.”

Susan grabbed Donna’s hands and her face was pleading, her voice eager. “But we can, Donna! My vortex manipulator can bring us anywhere we want! We can go back to Earth, but it could be the far future or the prehistoric past. We could-”

“Bring me home.”

“What?”

“I said I want to go home.”

***

“She just doesn’t remember, you know. It’s not your fault.” While Wilfred had been tentative about allowing Susan around Donna since realizing her non-human origins, he was acting very cordially now. He poured her a glass of water and sat beside her on the couch. “You tried.”

Susan was grumpy. She wished that she was not, but it could not be helped. The disappointment overwhelmed her, but she was not mad at Donna. She was not mad at all. Just sad. “I know,” she whispered against the cup as she took a sip, “I just thought…”

“And she’s happy now, so I think she’ll be okay,” he added, though it felt a bit forced. “She’ll always remember this adventure, and you.”

There was a small smile with her nod as Susan placed the drink down on the coffee table. “I think it’s time for me to go,” she said slowly, and she started to stand up. She walked toward the door then turned around, surprised. “I think Donna still has my vortex manipulator.” They had not bothered to unstrap the device from Donna’s wrist before; Susan had set the coordinates and back to Earth they went.

Wilfred wagged a finger as he started toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “I’ll get her to bring it to you. She’ll want to say goodbye.” So Susan sat back down on an armchair, messing with the fabric nervously.

It was several minutes before Donna stepped into the living room. Whatever she and Wilfred were talking about, it certainly was not just about returning Susan’s vortex manipulator. The device dangled from Donna’s outstretched hand as she entered the room, Wilfred not returning with her. Susan met her, took the gadget, and started to attach it to her own wrist.

“I looked through the catalog thing,” the ginger said, but Susan did not look up, “Have you really been to Venus?” A slight, twitched smile from Susan was enough to keep her going. “And what even is Granite City?”

“A city made of granite, of course!” Susan laughed. “It’s worth just as much as diamonds there.” Looking down at the vortex manipulator again, she clicked a few buttons, which confirmed that the catalog had recently been accessed. It was unexpected and impressive — even Susan struggled to figure out the thing’s controls sometimes, and she was the one who built it!

“It can really go back in time?”

“Forward, too. Sideways, even.”

“Well, we’re not going to go anywhere sad.” Susan blinked in confusion and looked up to see that Donna had her arms crossed and brows raised. “No World War Two or black plague or anything.”

“Okay,” Susan agreed, “But-”

“It’s just a little adventure, for a while. And if it can really travel in time that means I can be back and it will be like I never left.” Susan had thought that she would have to explain that concept, but apparently not. She knew better than to try to add anything, instead allowing Donna to continue explaining her sudden change of mind. “I guess I think you were right. I do want to do something more. I don’t know… I’ve felt like this for a while. Restless. And anyway,” she laughed, “it’s not like I’m going to let a teenager venture off on her own.”

“I’m not a child.”

“Yeah. You’ve said.”

By the time that Wilfred walked into the room, Susan and Donna were both smiling at each other gleefully. When she noticed him, Donna turned and gave him a big hug. “I’m gonna go outside and see Susan off,” she said as he patted her back. He acted like he accepted that explanation and even told her to be back in soon because it was getting cold, but he met Susan’s eyes over Donna’s back. _Take care of her_ , he mouthed, and Susan nodded. “Come on, let’s get you going,” Donna said loudly as she and Susan started toward the front door. As they walked, she whispered, “I don’t suppose I should pack a bag?”

“It’s a bit impractical with this sort of travel, I’m afraid.”

“Hm… I guess I’ll just have to get clothes wherever we go.”

“And where would you like that to be first?”


End file.
